Work and worth

I want to have a connection with you.

I want to take the time to show you love. 

I have things going on. A "Rehab Center secret high five." A poke war with a resident. A resident who always tries to scare me.

I have people who mess with my productivity (calculations) because when they're crying about their missing (non-existent) purse or aunt in the attic, I ask you if you want to take a walk with me. And as I ask you about yourself and your life. And watch as adults emerge from the fog of dementia-induced childishness. 

But I look at pictures on Alicia's Facebook and wonder why I'm not riding across the US while building affordable housing or starting non-profits or going on mission trips a couple times a year. I look at Ashley's and see her foreign trips in swanky places with Important People. And I LOVE them both.
And there are 988 other Facebook friends whose accomplishments flash in your face daily (I prefer to, for the most part, keep mine private). 

And what I do can seem so small. 

But then a lady told me today that I am one of her heroes. And maybe life can be about building wells in Haiti, and maybe it can be about helping the little lady to room 718d. 

Maybe it can be about riding your bike for a purpose, or just picking up a park.
Maybe you have the power to give hope in an orphanage, or maybe just by leaving a note in and some cash in a mailbox that you crash into it ("my faith is restored by kindness as shown to us by you")

Maybe you donate blood, take food to a neighbor, listen to a friend.
Your life is worthwhile
Maybe you haven't done anything out of the ordinary. Never lived in Zambia or started a world renowned cancer clinic.
Your life is important. 

Because someone else may not be able to serve all the people YOU interact with in the same way.
Whether it is your children, or their teacher, or the PTA or the board of your company, or a foreign mission field.
And it's not always how many but how deep.

It sounds so cliche, but maybe by transforming the ordinary mundane...maybe that is also extraordinary. Maybe living your life, picking up your paycheck, loving others well, giving some is another kind of call. Maybe just loving the people around you creates a healthier world.

The titles that follow your name aren't what make for a good epitaph.
It's never CEO or Researcher. It's not published author or pro-athlete.
It's "wife, mother, and friend" or "beloved daughter." It's "'The best dad ever.'"
And sometimes we spend less and less time focusing on those things that are so important that we chisel them in stone
When we're caught up in the crazy of comparing lives
Comparison is, as they say, the thief of joy.

It is looking at what we don't have, instead of what we do. It's craving instead of celebrating

And it can be the enemy of friendship. 

The shield that keeps others at a distance when others need to be embraced, just as much as we do. 

Because I have exactly what I need in this moment.
And God will find a way to help me find exactly what I need (in his wisdom) in the next moment. 

There are a whole bunch of people who laugh when they see me, as they sit in the hall, day after day, some for the remainder of their lives.
And maybe providing laughter daily is important, regardless of whether it's valued by society as 'important' at all.
Maybe that's part of my mission. My purpose. My vocation.

And maybe yours isn't work at all. Maybe yours is slogging through a tough work environment to do what we adults are obligated to do...provide for ourselves and contribute to society. And maybe you go home to kids or a mom or a husband and support them and love them well. Maybe you volunteer or go crazy far doing crazy wonderful for others.

The lie is that it's not important.
The truth is that it's ALL important.